Justin's Issues

I know it's been a long time since I wrote about Justin's issues so I am going to try to bring you up to date. We went to speech therapy for 5 or 6 weeks before we moved, with a lady at Ochnser. She was super! Had lots of toys and was able to engage him well. When he was evaluated at 2 yrs 9 months, he tested for speech at a less than two year old level. He did very well in speech but it is hard to say if he progressed a lot because we didn't continue when we got up here (insurance doesn't cover speech unless you've had a stroke here). So I need to look into the state-run program for Iowa.


In Jan before we left I took him to an integrative medicine MD, much like a DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) doctor, who hasn't gotten credentials for DAN!, but treats autistic kids. She did some bloodwork and what she found was enlightening. Apparently J has three active viruses in his blood according to his antibody levels- CMV, HSV6, and EBV. CMV she said he probably caught in the NICU. EBV is Epstein-Barr, which is the virus that causes mono, so that would explain his fatigue and low stamina. HSV6 is a virus similar to roseola, where the child gets a high high fever and then a rash afterward on their trunk (like the 106 fever that he got at 11 months old that lasted 5 days).

He has low creatinine and high AST, which means that his liver and kidneys are not functioning optimally to detox his body. He is also anemic, but his ferritin is normal, which points to the fact that he has an increased need for B12 and folate. If his iron/ferritin was low, then he would need iron. His lymphocytes are low due to the viruses, and he has two copies of a genetic mutation on the MTHFR gene, which is the gene responsible for folate metabolism, which would explain his B12 and folate deficiency.

The good news is that his immune system is working. We did a CRP two weeks after the holidays and it was high. The lab messed up his blood and it hemolyzed, so we had to have him redrawn at the office a few weeks later. The good news is that his CRP on the second draw was normal. So his body does have some defenses and is able to get its inflammation under control. The inflammation was most likely in his gut from eating too many allergenic foods during the holidays.

The other good news is that the MD gave him 10 supplements to take (something I call the shotgun approach, which I am NOT fond of). Here is the list:

B12
Deplin (folate)
Florastor (good yeast for the gut)
Probiotics
Gastrocort (a med for colitis)
Complete Minerals
GSE liquid (grapefruit seed extract to kill the viruses)
Kristazyme (digestive enzymes)
Cod liver oil and Evening primrose oil for omega 3, 6, and 9 supplementation

I was upset because I didn't realize when I bought the supplements from her that they were designed for adults, not children. I don't think it's EVER wise to give an adult medication in smaller doses to children, especially when it is not based on weight. Kristi also saw her and said that she just started treating kids, and these are the supplements that DAN! doctors use, but I was not at all comfortable giving them all to him.

So I separated them out by body system and gave the GI meds first, which are Gastrocort, Florastor, and Kristazyme. J always has trouble with digestive enzymes so that was out after two doses. The Florastor wasn't really a big deal because it's basically a probiotic with yeast, but the Gastrocort made him projectile vomit undigested food, even in his sleep. Thankfully we were at Helen's when he threw up in his sleep and she woke him up, otherwise he would have choked on his own vomit. Yech.

That episode totally turned me off to this doc, so the information just sat for a long time after the move. I couldn't decide whether to try again or get a second opinion. Well, you know me, I went to get a second opinion from a Naturopath here who treated Susan and her kids for their food allergies. We went Friday.

She said that his allergies are probably IGG related, which is a delayed sensitivity, involving the mucous membranes in the gut. An IGE reaction would be anaphylactic. We are going to do a blood test for IGG to find out exactly which foods he is reacting to, because lately he has begun reacting to rice products, which is one of the least allergenic foods! We also did some food challenges in early May and these were the results:

Wheat led to flapping his hands in front of his face, screaming uncontrollable tantrums, and fatigue
Goat milk (which has casein) led to head butting, biting, slamming into people especially Miles, and toe walking
Soy led to clear runny nose and fussiness

All of these are autistic behaviors. The rice has been giving him yellow sticky snot, which was the first symptom of the wheat allergy when he was 12 months old.

Anyway, the reaction to the Gastrocort led us to believe that his gut is working to some extent, but does not have the inflammation that the supplement would treat. He does have leaky gut though, which would explain his food sensitivities. Basically his gut has gaps between the cells that allow undigested proteins through, which access other parts of his body and lead to the systemic food reactions that he has. Leaky gut has many causes, not the least of which is mercury and aluminum exposure from vaccines.

Ok so on to the genetic piece. He has two copies of the MTHFR A1298C mutation. The MTHFR gene is responsible for the detoxification pathways at a cellular level. Methylation and sulfation are the specific detox pathways. When the MTHFR gene is involved, the methylation pathway is impaired and the body can't use B12 and folate properly to detox the cells. Sometimes this leads to high homocysteine levels, which can lead to vascular disease. His combination is homozygous for the A1298C mutation, which is relatively rare, about 5% of cases.

Most people have a C677T mutation of the gene, and it depends on how this is combined with the other mutation as to how severe the consequences are. Two copies of the C gene lead to vascular changes in the placenta and can lead to recurrent pregnancy losses and neural tube defects like spina bifida, because a mother can't maintain adequate folate levels for pregnancy. This would explain Eric's mom's four pregnancy losses between him and Lisa.

People that are heterozygous, or have the C and A gene, are more likely to have pregnancy losses, neural tube defects, or vascular disease. People like Justin who are homozygous for the A gene are more likely to have vascular disease and can have problems with male infertility due to insufficient sperm production, which also relies on folate. The above would explain my family history of vascular and heart disease.

SO to everyone who told me "there is nothing wrong with your kid", "he's just a boy", "he'll grow out of it", "he's not autistic", you were wrong. There is something wrong with my kid, and now that I know what it is, we can treat it properly. Thank you for invalidating me so that I worked twice as hard to figure out what it was.

Sandy (the ND) said that he looks like a normal kid because of all the work I've done to help him. Finally, the validation I was looking for! The homeopathy really really helped him get back to his normal emotional state, one of evenness and placidity, which he was born with. So now we can focus on the physical problems of healing his gut and getting the allergenic foods back into his diet.

The treatment is relatively simple and gentle. Omega 3, 6, and 9, probiotics with FOS, acidophilus, metagenics' anti-inflammatory, and a digestive enzyme for casein. I am considering a B12 supplement as well, but the Deplin is designed for adults, so we'll have to discuss that further when we see her again. There is a DAN! practitioner here who I might see to get a third opinion on what to do.

Finally, all of this leaves me wondering where the studies are on the long-term effects of vaccination? If the genetic mutation is caused by injecting bacteria and viruses directly into our bloodstream (which is what you do when you vaccinate, and all viruses contain their own DNA or RNA), then doesn't it make sense that we are seeing all of the side effects three generations down the line?

The infertility in particular, that suddenly you have all of these adults, second generation who were vaccinated, with these defective genes, and they try to have children, and our infertility rate skyrockets? Or you put these defective genes together and come out with kids who can't detox anything? Who are allergic to ridiculous things like apples and peas and baby soap.

Are we changing the definition of normal? Miles is almost crawling at 6 1/2 months. I can't tell you how many people have told me "wow that's early". Is it really? Or do we have a new definition of development? I got Justin's developmental newsletter from the La. DHH the other day and it said that his speech should still be unintelligible until 2 1/2. Sorry but I don't think that was the guideline a few years ago.

For example, how many people in 1900 had seasonal allergies, to dust and mold? Asthma? Rheumatoid arthritis (which is caused by rubella)? Lupus? ADHD? Not many. We have encountered these things as more and more generations have been vaccinated. So where are the studies? The CDC refuses to do them.

The final nail in the coffin I read in Jenny McCarthy's book, Mother Warriors. Apparently Jenny got someone from the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) to come to a DAN! conference to hear about all of the treatments out there for autistic children. Not only did the rep not want to hear about the new protocols, she told the members of the DAN! panel, all of which are MDs, that there is no connection between vaccines and autism, and not to spread that information. The president of the AAP told her on a break on Larry King that his philosophy is "grab 'em and stab 'em"- whenever a kid comes in for a pediatric check-up, he should get his catch up shots, even if he's sick. So we're vaccinating kids, even when their immune systems are down, so that we can follow the old dogma. No wonder a recent AAP conference was centered around "how to get your patients to stay in your practice", because apparently people are leaving Pediatricians in droves due to the over-vaccination of children and going to Family Practice doctors. The AAFP has a completely different stance on vaccines, which is strange since they treat the same people... when are we going to wake up and get some common sense?

Oh and I'm wanted by the CDC- apparently the CDC is following parents that don't vaccinate. I got a letter that said that I was "randomly selected" for a survey on vaccination and for the health of the community, the CDC is trying to figure out what the true numbers are of vaccinated children in any given area. However if it was really a survey, I would have been allowed to opt out. There was no such option. I still haven't heard from them. I had heard that the CDC is harassing doctors who give medical exemptions and don't vaccinate all of their patients, and harassing parents during this survey to "give up" their doctor's information.

Oh and you'll love this- I got the kids' records from Dr. Capone. There was a letter in there from the CDC requesting information that SPECIFICALLY stated that they had the right to my son's medical records because I entered his adverse vaccine reactions into the VAERS database, and DID NOT HAVE TO NOTIFY ME IN ANY WAY. I'm sorry but I find that a breach of privacy and a violation of informed consent between a doctor and patient. It is also a breach of HIPPA. But it goes on every day.

So what you do with this information is your own, but I hope it causes you to think, about what vaccination really does to your body, what you are doing to your kids, and the fact that the tide seems to be turning. Just the recent uproar over the HPV vaccine and the swine flu should show you that the collective consciousness is finally changing. Vaccination is a sacred cow that needs to be slaughtered in my opinion, or at the very least children need to be tested for genetic abnormalities, mitochondrial insufficiency (which the little girl had who won the case against the CDC), and be able to opt out if they were premature, have birth defects, or have other hereditary factors that preclude vaccination. But if no one will do the studies- then we'll never have the answers. It is so frustrating.